BANANA STEM WEEVIL AND BANANA APHID MANAGEMENT.

1. BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVILAND
BANANAAPHID
VIKASKUMAR

2. BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVIL
• Scientific Name: Odoiporus longicollis
• Family : Curculionidae
• Order : Coleoptera
• Since last 5 years it has become a very
saviour pest.
• Eggs are yellow colour , Elliptical in shape.
• The Banana Pseudostem Weevil attacks the
plant during flowering and bunch formation
stage and cause severe yield loss by
preventing the bunch development.
• Distribution and status: It is widely
distributed in all banana growing areas.
• Host range: Banana.

3. • Life cycle:
1. Incubation period :- 3-5 days
2. Grub :- 30-35 days
3. Pupa (Exorate) :- 7-19 days
4. Adult :- 90-120 days.
 Eggs are laid in the pseudostem about
1-1.5 m above ground level.
 Grub are apodous, with five larval
instars.
 Pupation site:- in side pseudostem
tunnel.
 It has over lapping generation ,and it
completes 2 life cycle in a year.
EGGS
GRUBS
ADULT
BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVILCONTD…

4. • NATURE OF DAMAGE:
1. Female make holes on pseudostem by
making pin holes with the help of
snout (1 egg in each pin hole) .
2. After hatching of eggs Grubs bores
into the pseudostem and make
tunnels and feed on internal content
of pseudostem.
3. On an average we can see 150-200
weevils along with grubs in each
stem.
BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVILCONTD…

5. • SYMPTOMS OF DAMAGE :-
1. The early symptoms are the jelly exudation on the banana stem which
indicate the weevil and grub activity in side the stem.
2. Ooze of resinous substance from pseudostem.
3. Yellowing and drying of leaf.
4. Sequential pin holes on pseudostem in a line. ( Equal distance, Equal
diameter, and line arrangement on stem).
5. The Pseudo stem becomes hallow and break at the apical region due to
gush of wind.
6. Collapsing of plant during heavy wind due to sevior infestation.
BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVILCONTD…

6. • MANAGEMENT :-
• Adopt good husbandry practices such as weeding, manuring and mulching which
improve weevil tolerance.
• Remove dried leaves periodically and keep the field clean.
• Prune the side suckers every month.
• Use healthy and pest free suckers to check the pest incidence.
• Spray monocrotophos 36WSC at 1 ml / litre of water.
• Do not dump infested materials into manure pit.
• Uproot infested trees, chop into pieces and burn.
• Spray methyl parathion 50 EC 2 ml/1 or monocrotophos 36 WSC 1 ml/1 on trunk.
Alternatively, dilute 50 ml of monocrotophos 36 WSC with 350 ml of water and inject 4
ml (2ml at 45 cm from ground level, another 2 ml 150 cm from ground level) using
banana injector’ or long needle in the pseudostem at monthly intervals from 5th to 8th
month. Do not follow stem injection after 8 months of growth.
BANANAPSEUDOSTEMWEEVILCONTD…

7. BANANAAPHID
• Scientific Name: Pentalonia nigronervosa
• Family: Aphidae
• Order : Hemiptera
• The aphids are persistent vectors of
bunchy top disease in banana.
• Aphids congregate below the leaf base and
their direct damage is fairly less.
• High humidity favours rapid multiplication
of this pest.
• Identification of pest: Yellowish green
nymphs and adults suck cell sap and
devitalise plants.

8. • NATURE OF DAMAGE :-
Both adult and nymphs suck the sap from
lower portion of leaf.
• SYMPTOMS OF DAMAGE :-
• Due to sucking of sap (both by adult
and nymph ) from lower portion of
leaf results in progressive leaf dwarfing
and curling reduced bunch size and
distorted fruits.
• Affected parts become discoloured and
malformed.
BANANA APHIDCONTD..

9. • MANAGEMENT:
• Spray methyl demeton 2 ml / litre or monocrotophos 1 ml / litre or dimethoate 1.70 ml /
litre of water,
• Direct the spray towards the crown and pseudostem base up to ground level at 21 days
interval at least thrice.
• Avoid injection of monocrotophos after flowering.
• Destroy diseased plants with rhizome.
• Inject 5 ml of 2, 4-D herbicide (125 mg/1) into pseudostem using injecting gun for
effective killing of diseased plants.
• Spray methyl demeton 25 EC 500 ml or monocrotophos 36 WSC 250 ml/ha or
dimethoate 30 EC 500 ml/ha to control aphids. Direct spray towards crown and
pseudostem base at 21 days interval at least thrice.
• Follow pseudostem injection with monocrotophos 36 WSC after diluting 1 ml in 4 ml of
water at 45 days interval. Use banana injector devised by TNAU or lumbar puncture
needle. Avoid injecting monocrotophos after flowering.
• Encourage activity of predators, Scymnus, Chilomenes sexmaculata, Chrysoperla
carnea and other coccinellids; and entomopathogen, Beauveria bassiana.
BANANAAPHIDCONTD..